Field sponsorships are always interesting, especially when the field comes with a different name than the surrounding stadium. A case in point is the Kansas City Chiefs’ “GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium,” which took that name (for the private insurance firm Government Employees Health Association) under a 2021 deal running through 2031.
Especially early on, sponsorship deals like that don’t always get much traction with fans (who often refer to stadiums by former names even years later). They sometimes don’t even get mentions from non-rightsholder media. But they usually do get (and do stipulate) coverage on rightsholder broadcasts, which led to viewers hearing a lot of “GEHA” from CBS’ Jim Nantz Sunday. And while it’s unclear if it’s a stipulated move or not, the Chiefs did hilariously insert “(GEHA Field at)” into a quote from their own player, defensive tackle Chris Jones:
EVER. pic.twitter.com/pb3d9lzoSK
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) January 30, 2023
This drew some funny reactions:
Incredible (kind of silly) parenthetical https://t.co/s9Wcbyt6ST
— Jessica Smetana (@jessica_smetana) January 30, 2023
the parenthetical implies the Bengals disrespected the actual field, like the turf and the drainage system
— Rodger Sherman (@rodger) January 30, 2023
I would never disrespect Geha Field. Arrowhead, sure, I disrespect that all the time. But Geha Field? No way!
— “colin” (@Cooolin26) January 30, 2023
I didn’t hear them disrespect the field. Just Arrowhead, the stadium.
— Brad Rincker (@BradRincker) January 30, 2023
We obviously aren’t privy to the contractual language on how the Chiefs have to refer to their field sponsor, and if that includes adding parentheticals to social media posts like this one. Either it specifically does, or they did that out of the goodness of their sponsor-appeasing hearts. But in either of those cases, it was pretty funny.
And it added to a long list of awkward sponsor moments, with two of the best including “technology and stuff” and “Today’s about Qualcomm.”
Maybe some day a Chiefs player will actually say “GEHA Field at Arrowhead.” Until then, we’ll have to rely on these parentheticals.
[Stadium image from Chiefs.com]
